Mixed bag

Just so that you know I am not totally against Christmas - Kate was surprised that I even had a Christmas tree - here are some of my other decorations:

My kitchen shelf is decorated as you can see - more memories on there too along with some of the cards!

I have even put a couple of golden sprays in the cloakroom as decoration - pity I didn't clean the mirror too though!

You are right to expect that I don't have reams of paper chains and dangling balls nor fairylights all over the place indoors and out but I DO make some effort towards celebrating the season it's not all Bah Humbug here!!a

For a change from Christmas recipes I thought I'd share this one with you - I made it yesterday. This is for a lemon layer pudding which is a light lemony dessert which might make a pleasant change from the rich stuff we normally have at this time of year and comes from an old Good Housekeeping recipe book of my mother's.

It goes in the oven in a bain marie - I usually add the water using a can with a spout once it is in the oven as I find I tend to slop the water otherwise - old age making my hands a little shaky perhaps?

And comes out like this a light fluffy sponge which has separated to have a lemony sauce beneath, delicious served straight from the oven and also good cold too or can be reheated in the microwave if you have any leftovers..

Recipe here:

Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon

2 oz butter

4 oz sugar

2 eggs separated

Half pint of milk

2 oz self raising flour

Add lemon rind to butter and sugar and cream till soft and fluffy. Add egg yolks and beat well. Stir in milk,lemon juice and flour. Whisk egg whites stiffly and fold in to mixture. Pour into greased dish about 2 1/4 pints in size. Stand dish in a shallow tin of water and cookd near top of oven for about 45 mins till top is set and firm to touch

Oven temperature 350 deg F Gas Mark 4

Sorry it is in ounces and not metric it is an old book!

These last 2 photos are of some bits of needle felt I was playing about with the other day - one advantage of all this snow is there is more time for indoor games and as we are not expecting any visitors I don't have much else to do this week (memo to self - clean the cloakroom mirror though!). I think I need to needle them more as they are not completely felted and the holes still show don't I? Not sure what to do with them when I have finished but it was fun playing!

The other morning 3 young men rang the bell - I should be so lucky - they were neighbours and asked if we were OK and did we want them to spread any grit on our driveway. I thanked them and accepted their offer and they cleared the steps down to our front door and sprinkled it all with grit which they said they had got from one of the bins of the stuff provided by the council. I was grateful for their kind thought of course but it also brought home to me that we are obviously considered by the younger generation to be the elderly who need to be checked up on! Not a pleasant thought as there was me thinking I was young and fit!! Later that afternoon I went out with a strong carrier bag to see if I could get some more to put on the steps at the back of the house too and managed to find enough - it was all I could carry anyway. We now have non slip steps front and back.

Whilst in London recently on the Tube a young woman offered me her seat - again I was appreciative but hadn't realised I obviously looked elderly! I think I am still about 25 ish (not sure how that works as then I'd be younger than my daughter but I don't go there!)

Then last Sunday we were in Salisbury and had a cup of tea in a little chocolate shop there which was very pleasant. A couple with a little boy came in and began chatting to the man who was obviously the owner of the shop and the little boy was allowed to take some chocolate balls from a bucket on the counter labelled Merry Christmas. I must have been watching too closely or maybe I had a look of envy or perhaps again I was a poor old lady but the owner took a felt stocking and filled it with the balls and presented it to me as a gift! I was dumbstruck - the spirit of Christmas is not yet dead even if you have to be an old aged pensioner to find this out. My Mum used to tell me there were advantages to being older and she - as always - was right!!